Seongnam City 'Solomon's Choice' Creates 39 Couples
"Seoulting Leading 'Low Birthrate Measures' Faces Rejection"
Gyeonggi Seongnam City hosted a matchmaking event for unmarried men and women called 'Solomon's Choice,' which reportedly resulted in the formation of 39 couples, drawing significant attention.
Previously, other local governments such as Seoul also attempted matchmaking events but faced public criticism that led to their cancellation. However, Seongnam City proceeded with the event as planned and unexpectedly achieved great success.
According to Seongnam City, 39 couples were matched during the first and second rounds of Solomon's Choice. The first event was held on the 2nd at the Wirye Millitopia Hotel, where 15 couples were formed. The second event took place on the 9th at the Gravity Hotel Seoul Pangyo, resulting in 24 couples.
The city stated that out of 100 participants?50 men and 50 women?there was a 39% couple matching rate. Solomon's Choice is an event planned by Seongnam City with the purpose of providing unmarried men and women with natural opportunities to meet and spreading positive values regarding marriage.
Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province, announced on the 3rd that it held the 'Solomon's Choice' event, which arranges meetings for single men and women, at the Wirye Millitopia Hotel in Changok-dong, Sujeong-gu on the 2nd, successfully matching 15 couples out of 50 men and 50 women participants. 2023.7.3 / Provided by Seongnam City. [Image source=Yonhap News]
Eligibility required participants to be unmarried men and women aged 27 to 39 (born between 1997 and 1985) who either have their resident registration in Seongnam or work at companies within the region. Although 200 participants were to be recruited, 1,188 applicants (802 men and 386 women) applied. The city selected participants by lottery, and those who overcame an average competition rate of 6 to 1 gathered at the event venue.
Participants engaged in activities such as dating coaching, personality type tests (MBTI), couple recreation, wine parties, one-on-one conversations, meal times, and self-promotion sessions to get to know each other better.
Seongnam Mayor Shin Sang-jin said, "The Solomon's Choice event was successfully conducted amid high interest and enthusiastic responses," adding, "I hope this event spreads nationwide and becomes an opportunity to foster a friendly atmosphere and positive perception regarding marriage and childbirth."
Seongnam is not the only local government to promote matchmaking events. In June, Seoul City launched the 'Seoul-ting' project aimed at facilitating natural meetings among young single-person households to address the low birthrate issue. However, public criticism arose questioning whether simply facilitating meetings between men and women could solve the low birthrate problem, leading to the project's cancellation.
Seongnam City's Solomon's Choice is also overseen by the city's low birthrate countermeasure team. Nevertheless, Seongnam reportedly continued the event despite criticism, expecting positive outcomes. As a result, although both Seoul and Seongnam pursued similar projects, they faced completely opposite outcomes.
Jeon Mi-young, a research fellow at Seoul National University's Consumer Trend Research Center, said in a CBS radio interview on the 11th, "If matchmaking is arranged explicitly to solve the low birthrate, no one would want to participate. The context of the planning (in Seoul's case) was somewhat excessive," adding, "In such cases, people tend to feel some resistance."
She continued, "All projects conducted by local governments involve budgets, but whether they receive support or criticism depends on how the purpose and context of the project are communicated and persuaded."
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